SFCS Swim Teams Set New Records At State Meet  

              February 20, 2008 - As predicted, the Shannon Forest Christian School Varsity Swim team set new records at the State Championship swimming meet this past Monday, February 18, in Carey, North Carolina. At a fabulous venue that boasted three pools, state-of-the- art timing equipment, an electronic immediate time display board for the fans, as well as plenty of stadium seating, the SFCS team demonstrated they deserved to be there with some solid swims. Four new team records were set by the Crusaders as the men finished 12th in the state and the women finished 13th. “It was a great meet; it was a big meet; maybe the biggest meet some of our athletes have ever been in. We’re proud of every one of our swimmers,” noted Coach Paul Dean.

              The boy’s 200 Medley Relay team placed 7th in the state with Mark Culpepper, Andrew Heitman, Marcus Erwin, and Peter Heitman. Culpepper added to the boy’s score by finishing 7th in the state in the 50 Free.

              The Crusaders also set a new team record in the 200 Free Relay with a time of 1:48.08 and finished 7th in the state.   The team members included Culpepper, Erwin, A.Heitman, and P. Heitman. “We had to have four really fast legs to get that record. Both Marcus and Peter achieved personal best relay splits. In fact, Peter had the meet of the season achieving personal bests in every event he swam,” remarked Coach Dean.  

              A. Heitman set a new team record for the men in the 100 Breast as well with a time of 1:12.24. “Andrew has done some hard work this year and he’s reaping the benefits just now. I think if we had three or four meets to go, you would see his time drop even further. It’s been coming down all year. I’ll definitely follow him this summer,” said Dean. 

              Casey Earnest set the pace for the women as she earned a silver medal in the 100 Fly and set a new team record with a time of 1:02.48. She also set a new team record in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:16.74. Dean commented, “Both swims were incredible. Her fly time was three full seconds under her previous record. That’s quite a feat for someone who competes at her level year round. Her breaststroke was fantastic. I overheard one of the other coaches instructing two of his swimmers with her stroke as they watched her. She gets her hands out front so quickly. I was really glad to see her get the silver in the fly. She’s been working hard to get where she is and it showed in both races.”

              The meet has definitely put the 2008 Crusader Swim Season in the books. Coach Dean indicated that he was extremely optimistic about the team next year with a lot of the younger swimmers really showing him some things this year. With an upcoming S.A.I.L. summer season and a year’s worth of growth, some of them should place quite well at Conference and State.

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